I'm not Einstein

A couple of months ago I had a Vietnamese man in my class that did 5 of the 6 days. He had to do one more day and left. I asked him to just stay the one more day and he refused. I bent over backwards and almost begged him to stay. He refused to stay the last day and left. He called the company and asked for a refund for the last day and he had to give the books back. I would have told the company he had returned the books, but he didn't want that. I did everything I could do to help him. Two days I got this email from him:

Hi Scott,

I want to update my training to complete the course I left. So, please tell me how many hours more I need to fulfill for graduation? At this point, I want to go to any country, except Vietnam  ... why he said except Vietnam I don't know. I sent him an email that said he needed to coordinate it with the company. The company policy is that the student has to make up the days they missed if it was 90 days or less, otherwise they have to do the whole 3 weekends again. I hadn't heard from him again until he emailed me today. I had told all my students about my TESL website: http://scottisms.blogspot.com and the same man sent me the following email:

Hi there,

When you try to form 'ism' [based on your students/ disciples etc..., if so] you never use 's' tail plural; so I correct it, it must say "Scottism", like: Marxism, Darwinism, Capitalism etc [It can't be: Marxisms, Darwinisms,Capitalisms!!]... However, "ism" [word borrowed from Greek] refer to doctrines, philosophies, principles,  state of condition... You're just a 'little informal American-English teacher', just to make some money for living, then you're not qualified to self-promote as 'Scottism'. Those tiny errors can determine that you're still weak in vocabulary and understanding about English locution!!

I was a little surprised at his email. If he understood what I was referring to, and if he had paid attention in class when I used the word often he would know that what I meant when I said Scottism was things I said in class that were uniquely mine so my students didn't think they were from the book or anything that was proven, it was just things I have learned through the years of teaching. He made me a little mad at trying to correct my use of the English language when many things he said was incorrect. He just wanted to insult me and make me feel inadequate.

 It just reinforced what I tell my students often that I teach CONVERSATIONAL English not English Language. I couldn't believe this man, that I had tried very hard to help in many ways would be telling me that I was not qualified to "self-promote as 'Scottism' so I could make some money. I don't make any money from my blogs, I only do the TESL blog because many students have asked me to put all my thoughts together in a blog. After I received that blog I got one from another student that said: 

Hi Scott :)

I love your Scottisms and screw that  jerk who says otherwise!

 I also received another email a few minutes later that said:

Dear Scott:

You, Scott, are top of the line in my book and you stay very current in all important respects. I don't mean to assume but think that our friend from Vietnam's tone was perhaps unintentional. I wish I could remember the name of a specific author of an article on the topic of World Englishes, a topic that our friend from Vietnam might enjoy for its  required depth analysis and in illustrating that especially English, as frustrating as it can be for it's ocean of expanding exceptions, like Scottisms, is as rich for the same reason. 

I was so happy to read my other students support me. I do not know the most about teaching ESL. I always tell my students that they are probably smarter than me and most will be better teachers than me. I want to give them a start in their teaching adventure and get them excited about teaching. I always make the statement that I don't think Einstein would be a great teacher because he wouldn't understand why the students didn't understand. I think my strength is understanding why my students don't understand and being able to simplify concepts so everyone can understand. I guess the man who wrote me the original email didn't understand that!